Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko — under the spotlight over bombshell doping allegations in Russian athletics — is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin who has shrugged off a string of scandals to hit Moscow.
A damning report released Monday by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) independent commission unveiled jaw-dropping claims of corruption and cheating in Russian track and field, in what appeared to be “effectively a state-sponsored regime”.
The commission head Dick Pound said “it was not possible” for Mutko to be unaware of the vast rot in the system “and if he was aware of it then he was complicit in it.”
But the 56-year-old Russian sports honcho simply batted away the claims — as he has done with almost every allegation Russian sport has faced since he became minister in 2008.
“We are not the only ones to have problems in athletics,” Mutko told RIA Novosti news agency on Monday. “Everyone has problems.”
A veteran of scandals from FIFA to Olympic graft claims — Mutko has faced down controversies big and small as a collapse in political relations between Russia and the West over Ukraine have led some in Moscow to talk of a new Cold War in sports too.
Mutko, who is also the head of Russia’s football union and was the president of Zenit Saint Petersburg from 1997 to 2003, has led Moscow’s response to the graft claims that have shaken football’s governing body FIFA.
That scandal saw Russia’s right to host the World Cup in 2018, which Mutko had helped Moscow clinch in a prestigious victory for the Kremlin, thrown into question as a Swiss probe investigated the bidding process for the competition.
Former colleagues of Mutko’s have praised his resilience in the face of scandal.
“He distinguished himself by the fact that we would put out scandals,” said Andrei Malosolov, the former head of the Russian Football Union’s press service, who worked with Mutko from 2005 to 2010.
“In the world of sport, there are always many different kinds of conflicts of interest and conflicting situations. He could always solve conflicts and make peace between people.”
At home Mutko has also faced serious questions over his role in the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, which turned out to be the most expensive in history.
He was one of the officials overseeing preparations for the showcase — with the final bill reaching an eye-watering $51 billion amid claims of vast corruption.
On a smaller scale, Mutko also got caught up in an unlikely scandal over breakfasts — after he allegedly expensed some 97 meals during a 20-day business trip to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
— Putin’s backing —
While a similar scandal to the one now engulfing athletics in Russia might see heads roll at the very top in other countries, Mutko’s position seems secure.
There could be one main reason to explain why Mutko has risen to the top of Russian sport and managed to stay there despite the scandals — the backing of close ally Vladimir Putin.
As with many of those at the top in Russia today, Putin and Mutko’s ties go way back to the early 1990s when the pair both worked together in the mayor’s office in the president’s hometown Saint Petersburg.
“They had friendly relations, which is why he [Mutko] ended up on Putin’s team,” said Lyudmila Fomichyova, who worked in the same office with the pair in Russia’s second city Saint Petersburg.
“Putin does not give up his people,” she said.
Sociologist Olga Kryshtanovskaya, who specialises in the study of Russian elites, agreed that their long-standing ties had “some influence” on Putin’s opinion of Mutko.
The Kremlin strongman’s trust was also down to the fact that Mutko has remained doggedly loyal to Putin’s orders.
“Putin gives orders and these orders are fulfilled,” said Kryshtanovskaya.
“Putin considers that Mutko does this, which is why he is apparently considered effective.”